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Sunday, August 16, 2009

Nervousness...

In forty-one days, I will toe the line for my second attempt at finishing a 100 mile race. That leaves me with five weeks of training which includes two taper weeks. I have been obsessively poring over my plans from my 100 mile attempt last year. I am looking for every problem that sprung up; searching for any variable I overlooked. I am constantly comparing this year's plan to the previous plan. Am I making the appropriate changes? Are there any other variables I am forgetting? Will this year's race unearth problems I did not experience in the last race? Surely there will be some obstacles that are new... that's the nature of ultras. Am I adequately prepared for the unknown? Can you prepare for the unknown? These are the thoughts that have filled every quiet moment of my day.

My major shortfalls last year were a lack of training mileage and inadequate fuel (food) during the race. There were minor issues, also. I chafed more than I should have. I did not account for my feet swelling, thus my Vibram Five Fingers were too small. My headlamp wasn't quite as bright as I would have liked. I didn't bring my lights with me early enough... I didn't account for the darkness caused by the canopy of trees at dusk. I took too long at aid stations. I packed too much unnecessary stuff. I had no first-hand knowledge of the course. All of these problems are fairly easy to correct with better planning and more training rigor. Sadly, the preparation does little to curb the nervousness. Until the horn goes off at the start of the race, the anxiety will continue to build. Is this a great sport or what?

Don't be nervous...okay, you can be nervous, but make sure you manage it:-)

Know that you are better trained than many 100 miler entrants. And of course as in any epic quest there are components you may not be able to control (temperature, weather, if you get a nights sleep before the 100--which I predict you do not). But you are tougher than these.

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"Perhaps the genius of ultra running is its supreme lack of utility. It makes no sense in a world of space ships and supercomputers to run vast distances on foot. There is no money in it and no fame, frequently not even the approval of peers. But as poets, apostles and philosophers have insisted from the dawn of time, there is more to life than logic and common sense. The ultra runners know this instinctively. And they know something else that is lost on the sedentary. They understand, perhaps better than anyone, that the doors to the spirit will swing open with physical effort. In running such long and taxing distances they answer a call from the deepest realms of their being -- a call that asks who they are."-- David Blaikie, Ultramarathon Canada